


Banana Milk and Business Cards

by valenlimes



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Convenience Store, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Angst, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Light Angst, M/M, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory Negotiations, Strangers, Teenage Drama, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 16:19:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17870597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valenlimes/pseuds/valenlimes
Summary: Renjun is what you would call your typical 'edgy teen.' He lives off coffee, has a non-existent sleep schedule and enjoys being anti-social. But when life hits a little bit close to home and everything starts to crumble, Renjun finds himself outside the local corner store, crying to a boy with business cards and banana milk.





	Banana Milk and Business Cards

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Long time no see!  
> I am so sorry for not posting as regularly as I used to but what can I say? Writer's block sucks.  
> I started the first half of this months ago and I recently found it again when reading through my WIPs.  
> If it's not very good I apologise, but I am a little rusty so hopefully my next fics will be back to normal. I want to start writing more again and I possibly have another huge project in the works... 
> 
> Anyways, sorry if this is cringey, but I hope you enjoy!!

When you insist on not sleeping like Renjun, coffee becomes your best friend. 

As a matter of fact, coffee fixed all the world’s problems in Renjun’s humble opinion.

This is why, after pausing his thirteenth Buzzfeed Unsolved video of the night, sneaking out of his tenth-floor apartment, and tripping down the stairs because he decided to run and it is dark, he had plonked himself down on the curb outside a dingy corner-store, clutching a shitty iced-coffee, Renjun prayed that it would work its magic and fix his. 

“Dude you look like shit.” The young worker from the corner store had come out of the shop. Renjun grunted.

“Gee, thanks.” He sipped his coffee, wincing at the bitterness. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

“Do your kneecaps normally look like that?” The neon light flickered. Renjun raised an eyebrow. 

“Like what?” 

“Y’know… bruised?” The worker mumbled, staring openly at the rips in Renjun’s jeans. 

“Ah... no?” 

“Oh.” They sat in silence for a solid ten seconds before Renjun started feeling uncomfortable. Call him caring but Renjun actually felt a little bit bad for the guy. 

“I tripped down some stairs if you were wondering.”

“Oh, cool.” The worker nodded.

“Mm.”

Renjun watched him for a bit. Young, good looking but not Renjun’s type, very dorky. 

“Can… can I sit?” He pointed at the patch of curb by Renjun.

He shrugged and drank his coffee. “Sure. Its free real-estate after all.”

The worker sat and hugged his legs to his chest. “I’m Mark, if you wondering.”

“Hi Mark.” Renjun said dryly. 

“And you are…?” Mark leaned forward slightly, encouraging him.

“Renjun.” 

“Oh! That’s exotic!” Mark grinned and Renjun though he looked like a stupid puppy. 

“I suppose. Mark is not exactly normal either.” 

“Nah, I’m from Canada.” Mark shrugged off his neon work vest, folding the awful green uniform on the pavement behind him.

“Good for you.”

“Where are you from Renjun?” Mark pushed. 

Renjun really wasn’t in the mood for nosey strangers. To be perfectly honest, the only thing he was in the mood for was drowning his sorrows in shitty $2 coffee and finish off watching Shane and Ryan hunt ghosts from the comfort of his dark bedroom.  
“Look, Mark, I am sure you are a cool- no, _outstanding_ guy, but I am really not a good person and I don’t want to make small talk right now. The faster you tell me what you want, the less chance we have of you getting offended.” He finished with a pointed sip of his drink. 

Mark, bless his heart, looked baffled for a moment, before frowning and saying: “I am sure you are a good person Renjun.” 

Renjun simply just laughed. “That’s optimistic of you Mark, but you still haven’t answered my question.”

Mark continued to frown. “I came to see if you are okay.” He said so sincerely that Renjun’s heart clenched just a little bit. 

“For real?” Renjun quirked an eyebrow.

“Yes, for real. You come here a lot I have noticed and you always just drink that crappy coffee and sit, for _hours._

“I suppose I do, don’t I?” Renjun mulled for a moment. “I have never seen you before.”

Mark shrugged. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

“Not really, no.” Renjun stared straight ahead. There was a cat wandering along the pavement on the other side. Jeno would have petted it and then sneezed.

“Oh, well. If you ever need it.” Mark fiddled in the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a business card. “This has my number on it. Shoot me a text or come and find me here, I work most nights.” 

Renjun stared blankly at the card rectangle in his palm. There was a little guitar printed in the corner and ‘Mark Lee’ emblazoned across the front in bold letters. “You carry business cards.” 

“Yep, they are super handy.” Mark said it as if was the most normal thing in the world. 

Renjun just nodded mutely. “Well, as totally _awesome_ talking to you is, Mark, I have a bed to return to.” 

“Ok, night. Or should I say morning?” Mark stood up and offered Renjun a hand that he didn’t take. 

“I think morning is more correct right now”

Mark giggled. “Okay then, good morning.”

Renjun rolled his eyes again and walked off down the street without saying goodbye.

The ice in his coffee was all melted now. The condensation had made the cup wet and he wiped it on his jacket before sipping it some more. 

In many ways, a caffeine addiction and self-loathing came hand in hand.

It’s not like he was depressed or anything, his life was actually kind of alright. Renjun was just going through a bit of an existential crisis and he was in a phase where he enjoyed wallowing in his one-person pity party. 

His life was so painfully boring. Like the kind of boring that had you anticipating nothing. Renjun found himself constantly looking forward to something, only to figure out that that something didn’t actually exist. That lead to Renjun realising that his life had no major distinguishing features anymore, and instead of going out and doing something about it, he foolishly chose to dwell on it and hence became the person he is at present. 

Like the relatable eighteen-year-old he was, Renjun was almost inventing things to be sad about, because at least it was something.  
Parents would call it a cry for attention, assholes would call it being selfish. Both of these were true, but being close-minded, Renjun had decided to dismiss both statements under the premise of “they don’t know what I am going through.” 

So yeah, in short Renjun was a bit of a masochist, and he didn’t really plan on doing anything about it. 

 

|

 

If anyone ever tells you that third-wheeling is fun – don’t listen to them. 

They are lying.

If third wheeling was an Olympic sport Huang Renjun would have one enough gold medals to land him in the history books until the end of time. 

Jeno and Jaemin - possibly the world cutest couple - happened to be Renjun’s best friends, and with best friends came hanging out, sleepovers and lots of unnecessary third-wheeling. 

Jeno and Jaemin had been dating forever. Like, Renjun was pretty sure he couldn’t physically remember a time when they didn’t canoodle at the lunch table or hold hands when they walked to class together. 

It’s not like the two of them dating was a bad thing. Jeno and Jaemin were Renjun’s best friends in the whole wide world and he was immensely happy for them – like words literally couldn’t describe the emotions he felt towards to the lovely couple. 

Yes. Not a bad thing at all. 

“Then why do I hate it so much!” Renjun cried and threw his phone onto his bed, before swearing and scurrying to make sure it was undamaged. 

So far, Renjun’s day had consisted of him getting yelled at by his bitchy mathematics teacher for no reason at all, eating soggy sandwiches under the relentless sun during lunch break and accidentally walking in on Jeno and Jaemin making out in the boy’s bathrooms during free period. 

_(“Ew gross.” Renjun planted his hands on his hips and fixed his two friends with an unimpressed glare as they blushed and fumbled to fix their hair._

_“Oh, uh, Renjun… hi?” Jaemin mumbled sheepishly._

_Renjun just merely rolled his eyes, washed his hands and left without saying goodbye. He really wasn’t in the mood.)_

It was pathetic, yes. Renjun was painfully aware of this fact. He couldn’t tell if it was annoyance that he was the ever-present third wheel, jealousy, or just plain longing.

Did Renjun want a relationship? Is that it was? 

He contemplated this idea as he made himself another, much better, sandwich to make up for the abysmal excuse for food he had at lunch earlier. 

In the end, he gave up on figuring out why he disliked Jeno and Jaemin’s relationship so much but loved it at the same time. He was tired and he had an English essay to write for the following day that he had been putting off. 

The call had come when he was half way through the last paragraph and one step away from entering the gates of hell for the amount of times he had cursed William Shakespeare for creating the headache that was Othello.

“What do you mean you want me to dye your hair!?” Renjun choked into the phone. On the other side of the line he could hear Jaemin cackling.

 _“Exactly what it sounds like, Jun. I want you to dye me and Jaemin’s hair.”_ Jeno answered. Renjun could tell he was smiling, either from his boyfriend Jaemin’s antics or Renjun’s disbelief. _“I want light brown and Nana wants pink.”_

Renjun sighed and flopped onto his bed. “What makes you think I am capable of doing that?” 

_“You dyed Chenle’s hair, didn’t you?”_

Renjun scoffed. “For starters, his hair was already blonde, I just put the green in there, and secondly his mum is a hairdresser and she was supervising.” 

_“Same difference Jun.”_

“No, not same difference Jeno, your hair is black! Do you know how long this is going to take? It’s going to hurt too!”

_“I have bleached my hair before, remember? Jaemin has too, so we are both used to it.”_

“Still~” Renjun whined, rolling onto his stomach. 

_“Why are you so against this, Jun? I thought you would be excited.”_ Jeno sounded disappointed and it made Renjun’s chest ache.

“I am just scared I am going to mess up or hurt you or its going to look bad and then it will be all my fault!” These were all true, but Renjun deliberately omitted one very valuable piece of information. Jeno and Jaemin didn’t need to know the main reason why he was avoiding hanging out with the two of them.

_“Calm down Jun. You are an artist. Painting is, like, your life. The only difference is that you are painting on hair rather than on a canvas!”_

“Painting is very different to dyeing hair Jeno.” Renjun grumbled. 

“Please Jun? We don’t trust the people in the salon and everything you do is always perfect anyways!” Renjun could practically hear the pout through the phone. Goddamn his weak heart. 

Renjun sighed one more time for emphasis. “Okay fine, but if this goes bad you are not allowed to ostracise me, deal?” 

“Deal.” Jaemin whooped in the background. 

“Oh, and you have to buy me food.” Renjun smirked. “You know from that really nice Chinese restaurant in town? I have been craving some authentic cooking lately.” 

A beat of silence. “Okay fine.” 

Renjun grinned and pushed away the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He was _so_ going to regret this. “When and where Jeno?” 

Renjun really didn’t want to hang out with them. Combine the nightmarish third-wheeling with Renjun’s incessant need to isolate himself from the world and you would get Renjun’s worst decision as of late. 

Hence why he spent three hours before the hair dyeing event debating whether or not to fake illness and ditch. They could dye their own hair, surely. 

“You’re a weak bitch Huang Renjun.” He muttered to himself as he stood on the front porch of Jaemin’s fancy townhouse. 

“Jun! You’re late.” Jaemin smiled as he opened the door, blinding Renjun with his stupidly perfect teeth. 

“Do you want me to turn you into a cotton candy princess or not Na Jaemin?” Renjun crossed his arms. 

“Please do come in.” Jeno pinched his boyfriends side and ushered Renjun through the door. “Everything is already set up, we were just waiting for you to get here.”

Renjun had forgotten just how nice Jaemin’s bedroom was, he hadn’t been over to his house for so long. In fact, now that he thought about it, he hadn’t actually hung out with Jeno and Jaemin outside of school for a solid six months or so. 

“Ok, let’s get this show on the road.” Jaemin declared as he stripped off his shirt. Renjun averted his eyes as Jeno did the same. 

“You idiots know you don’t have to be shirtless for this right?” Renjun said dryly, forcing his face to remain neutral. He had seen the both of them shirtless before, why should it be a big deal now? 

“You got a problem with it Jun?” Jeno smirked, flexing ever so slightly. Puberty had worked wonders on the both of them, Renjun thought in dismay. Where they had been given perfect jawlines and well defined arms, Renjun had stayed the same height as he was in middle school and had problems gaining any kind of fat, let alone muscle.  
His mother had assured him that he was just as handsome, no less than all the other guys in his school, but looking at Jeno and Jaemin before him he decided to add one more dot point onto the ‘List of Why Renjun is a Below Average Individual.’ 

Renjun’s eyes widened and he looked up to the ceiling. “Wha- NO! I- I mean… uh, forget it.”

Jaemin chuckled and planted a kiss on Jeno’s shoulder before striding into the bathroom and sitting down on the edge of the tub. “Babe, that gym membership is paying off.” He commented cheekily as he eyes his boyfriend.

“Really guys?” Renjun couldn’t control his blush at this point. Their flirting was so annoyingly endearing. “I am right here.”

“And?” Jeno laughed. 

“Oh, shut up.” Renjun frowned and cracked open the bottle of bleach. “Now sit still, I am not messing up because of you.”

Six hours later, Jeno, Jaemin and a very exhausted Renjun were sitting on Jaemin’s bed, two of them sporting new hair colours.  
“You did an awesome job Jun.” Jaemin grinned at him as he checked out his new pink hair in the mirror. 

“I am just surprised you manage to pull off pink so well Nana.” Renjun smiled slightly. As emotionally drained as he was, he could appreciate his friends’ beauty and his own handiwork. 

“My boyfriend is so handsome!” Jeno sighed happily, now golden-brown hair flopping back on the pillows. 

“Oh, shush you.” Jaemin blushed, throwing himself on top of Jeno. 

Immediately uncomfortable, Renjun leapt off the bed. “It’s late, I think I am going to get going.” He reached for his bag.

“Aww no Jun, wont you stay? We haven’t spent time together in so long!” Jeno pouted, pushing Jaemin off his chest gently. 

Renjun paused, hand on the doorknob. “Oh no, it’s totally okay, I will leave you two alone. I have… stuff… to do.” He didn’t really have stuff, but anything was better than sitting on the end of the bed while your two best friends made out. “Maybe next time though?” 

“Oh… yeah, for sure.” Jeno smiled weakly and shared a look with Jaemin that Renjun really didn’t want to waste energy on deciphering. The only thing he wanted to do right now, was go home, curl up in a blanket cocoon, watch stupid YouTube videos and maybe cry a little bit.

He made it home safely, no problem there, but he still felt like shit. The sun had set and his parents were out for dinner with some friends that Renjun didn’t know.  
Being alone at night results in one of three things:  
1) You become a pussy and get scared before distracting yourself with one too many cute puppy compilations  
2) You go wild and throw an absolute rager of a party, either with everyone you know or by yourself  
3) You use the empty house as an opportunity to cry as openly and loudly as you like without having every member of your family nosing in.

Can you guess which one Renjun was doing?

That’s right, he threw himself the best one-man party he had ever had.  
He was halfway through a carton of ice cream and dancing on the kitchen counter when he started realising why he felt the need to throw said party.  
Renjun finally admitted to himself that he was lonely, and the two people he truly wanted to spend time with already had one another. 

Now, this realisation kind of came all at once, so he was understandably a bit distraught.  
He was just minding his own business, dancing his life away to Avril Lavigne and Maroon 5’s better discography, when he got a text message from Jeno and Jaemin asking if he had gotten home safely. They followed up with a cute selfie that Renjun had stared at for way too long.  
Maybe it was just the sugar high or he was just really honest with himself that night but somewhere amongst early 2000’s dance tracks and spoonsful of ice cream, Renjun had started to look at his friends in a new light.  
He couldn’t stop noticing how beautiful they looked with their new hair and then how nice it was to hang out with them that day and then thinking about everything remotely flirtatious they had done in the past and… oh shit.  
Suddenly the music was too loud and the pounding in his head wasn’t just from the dancing he had been doing moments earlier.  
It made so much sense, but at the same time, it was the most confusing thing in the world. He couldn’t like them. They were _dating._

“Fuck.” Renjun switched off the music and put his ice cream away, taking to pacing the length of the kitchen while attempting to control his breathing. “Fuck.”  
His screen lit up again. Another message from them, thanking him for a job well done. A stream of pink and red love heart emoji. “Fuck.” 

He shoved open the door to his bedroom and threw himself onto the bed, only to get up a second later and start rifling through his wallet, looking. With shaking fingers, he took out the small piece of card. It was stupid, yes, but it was the best he had right now.  
Ignoring the message from Jeno and Jaemin, Renjun punched the numbers into the keypad and lifted his phone to his ear. 

“Mark? Hi, this is random but you are the only one I could think of.”

Thirty minutes later, Renjun was sitting on the curb outside of the corner store next to Mark in silence.

“Sorry about this.” Renjun mumbled quietly. 

“Dude, its chill.” Mark shrugged. “What’s up?”

Renjun sighed and shook his head, burying his face in his hands. “I think I…”

“What? You’re too quiet.” 

“I think I’m…” 

“Little bit louder dude.” Mark scooched closer to hear better.

“I- I THINK I’M IN LOVE WITH MY BEST FRIENDS BUT THEY ARE ALREADY IN LOVE WITH ONE ANOTHER!” Renjun blurted that out _way_ too loud for the empty street.

“Oh- uhhh.” Mark shifted uncomfortably. “Hang on.” He jumped up off the curb and went back into the corner store. 

“Great Renjun, just fanstastic.” He watches as a pigeon pecked at something on the ground down the street.

Mark plopped back down onto the curb and thrust a banana milk in Renjun’s face. 

“What is this?” Renjun peered at the drink. 

“It’s banana milk.” Mark casually stabbed the straw through the foil cap. 

“I know what it is idiot… I mean like… why?” 

“You are obviously upset and my brother always drinks banana milk when he is sad so I thought it might help you.” Mark grinned. 

Renjun raised an eyebrow, but stuck the straw in the milk anyways. It tasted of diabetes but like he cared. 

“So, what’s going on, are you ok?” Mark turned towards him and crossed his legs, sipping his drink and peering at Renjun with those massive doe eyes of his. 

“I really don’t know anymore. I have been on a downwards spiral for a while now and this is kind of the final nail in the coffin.” 

“What? Figuring out that you love two boys? Is this your first ever sexual awakening?” 

“No, mark, I have always been gay as shit – it’s the fact that I am in love with MY TWO ALREADY DATING BEST FRIENDS!”

“Right, sorry.” 

Renjun sighed. “No, I’m sorry. I am kind of going through it right now but I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

“Bro, it’s fine, I have dealt with worse.”

Renjun turned to look at Mark. The white light from the neon sign behind him gave his hair the appearance of a brown halo. He kind of looked like a little lion. “Is that all you know how to say? Dude and bro?” 

Mark shrugged “Habit I guess. You’re kind of mean you know.” He didn’t sound angry. 

“Yeah I know. I am nice underneath I swear. And call me Jun, everyone does.” 

Mark grinned again. “Ok Jun.”

Renjun spaced out for a little but, staring at Mark’s nice teeth. For once he didn’t instantly think of Jaemin’s perfect smile. “So, uhhhh… thanks for the milk, but I probably should head home now. I have a tub of ice cream to finish and more crying to do.”

“God, you are negative.” Mark shook his head, but reached out to grab Renjun’s arm when he stood up to leave. “I am not done helping you yet. Wait here for like 10 more minutes, you are coming with me after my shift is finished.” Before Renjun got the chance to answer, Mark was disappearing through the glass convenience store door. 

Renjun was tempted to just leave and go home despite Mark’s request, but something kept his Converse glued to the curb outside the store. He watched the pigeon again, now joined by one of its friends, and sipped the last of his milk. 

Sure enough, ten minutes later, Mark was high-fiving the next worker and bouncing out of the store. “So, you stayed.” 

Renjun shrugged awkwardly. “Well, yeah… you asked…” 

“Do you like pizza?” 

“If it’s got pineapple on it then yes.” 

“You monster.” Mark giggled before starting off down the street. “C’mon, I know a great place.”

“Wait! Aren’t we gonna talk about my issue?” Renjun jogged after Mark’s long strides. 

“Soon, but we need brain food first!” 

 

|

 

“You took me to a Pizza Hut.” Renjun raised a sceptical eyebrow at the dingy storefront. 

“What? They make great pizza!” Mark held open the door for Renjun.

“What a gentleman.” 

“I try.” 

 

|

 

“So Renjun, how old are you?”

“What is this? 30 questions?” Renjun shoved half the pizza slice in his mouth.

“I am just trying to break the ice jeez, I can’t help you if I know nothing about you.” Mark elegantly cut his pizza into bite-sized pieces before sticking them in his mouth.

“I can’t believe you eat pizza like that.” Renjun frowned at the knife and fork in Mark’s hands.

“Hey,” Mark pointed his fork at him, “if you are allowed to eat pineapple on pizza I shouldn’t be discriminated against for this.” 

“That is so not the same thing but whatever.” Renjun swallowed. “I’m 18 by the way.”

“Oh sweet! I’m 19.”

“Ah, cool.” God, he was so awkward. Mark proceeded to ask him a multitude of other ‘ice-breaker questions’ and Renjun just smiled painfully through them. At least the pizza was decent, but he would never admit that to Mark.  
After the food was eaten, they strolled slowly down the street, going nowhere. 

“Can I talk about my issue now?” Renjun asked. 

Mark shrugged. “Yeah, sure. If you want.” 

Renjun rolled his eyes but opened his mouth to speak… only to find that he couldn’t voice all the things he wanted to say. Shocker.

“You good Jun?” Mark had obviously noticed him opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

“Uh, yeah, I mean, no. I don’t want to talk about it.”  
“But you just-,” 

“Yeah I know now can we move on?” 

Mark smiled, ever lovely in the dim street light. “Ok if you wish.” 

“Where are we going?” Renjun shuffled a little bit closer to Mark - it was cold out and the boy was basically a portable heater. 

“Well, originally I didn’t really have a plan but I think I know what I want to show you now.” 

“Jeez, how many special places do you know?” Renjun huffed out a breath.

“Not that many, just a few that I picked up from my delinquent years.” Mark tossed an arm around Renjun’s shoulders. “Lord you are freezing!” 

“Nah, I’m alright.” Renjun shivered a little.

“Good thing the place we are going has got heating.” Mark sped up, tugging a struggling Renjun along with him. 

They ended up on the 23rd floor of a high-rise office building, standing in the darkened meeting room and staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows. 

“It makes you feel so small, doesn’t it,” Renjun pressed his forehead against the glass and looked downwards at all the little cars driving past. 

“Jun, so cliché,” Mark laughed and looked over at him, city lights reflecting in his sparkly eyes. 

“Hey, I am trying to start a deep and meaningful conversation.” Renjun frowned and turned back to the glass.

“I don’t think you should try to make that stuff happen.” Mark murmured quietly. “Deep conversations I mean.”

Renjun looked up again. “What do you mean?”

Mark scratched his head. “Well, you know how earlier, you tried to talk to me about your problem? And you couldn’t?” Renjun nodded. “That’s what I mean. You have to be ready to have talks like that, and the best ones always happen naturally.”  
Renjun moved to stand up, Mark following. “I get it, I think.”

“Renjun, answer me honestly. Do you think you are completely ready to voice your feelings about your best friends to me?”

Renjun paused before shaking his head. “No. No I don’t. But maybe… soon?” 

“I will be here, you have my card.”  
Renjun nodded. “Who even carries business cards these days?”

Mark chuckled. “I do! They are very useful.” 

“Sure.” Renjun smiled. 

“That’s the first time I have seen you smile.” Mark looked at Renjun wistfully. “It’s nice.”

Renjun just shrugged and look out the window once more. “Who’s building is this anyways?” 

“I don’t know, but my friend works as a janitor here and he gave me the passwords years ago.” 

“Thank you, for taking me here. I oddly feel a bit better about the whole situation. Still dying inside, but like, a little bit less dark and edgy.”

“Forever the optimist, Jun. Promise me you will go home and have a serious think about all this? And give me a call when you are ready?”

Renjun grinned again. “Only if you buy me shitty banana milk.”

Mark stuck out his hand. “It’s a deal.” 

 

|

 

“So, it didn’t work out?”  
It was Summer now and Mark and Renjun were once again sitting on the curb outside the convenience store drinking milk and watching the pigeons. 

Renjun slurped his drink. “Nah, they were super nice about it, but they weren’t really up for dating me too.” 

“Dude, I’m sorry.”

“What did I tell you about ‘dude.’”

“ _Jun,_ I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok. I think I will always love them at least a little bit, but I think I am gonna be ok as long as I get to be best man at their wedding.” He chuckled bitterly. 

Mark sighed, scratching his neck. “You will get through it eventually, heck, you are already doing better than last time we sat here.” 

“I didn’t fall down the stairs this time.” Renjun stuck out his legs to display his unblemished knees. 

Mark laughed. “Hey, wanna go get pizza? I know a really great place?”

Renjun nodded. “Only if you promise to eat it with your hands like normal human being.” 

“Then you have to try a flavour other than that monstrosity you normally eat.” 

“Hey! Pineapple on pizza is an international delicacy, excuse you!” he jumped up and launched himself at Mark, who scrambled away. 

“You little shit!” Mark yelled and chased the younger male down the dark street, laughing. 

Later that night, as they sat in the red plastic seats of the local Pizza Hut, Renjun realised that for the first time in a long time, he didn’t feel like a walking Tumblr starter pack for ‘edgy, problematic teen.’

He was still gonna live on coffee and maintain his non-existent sleep schedule but at least he could do it without the ugly hole in his heart.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I really hope you enjoy. 
> 
> If you caught the Day6 reference in there you are a legend an I want to be best friends. 
> 
> If you want you can find me on twitter @valenlimes and on instagram @rvbyarts


End file.
